The 20th of February 1974
Official U.K. Albums Chart results from Sunday the 17th to Saturday the 23rd of February 1974
Cut-off for sales figures was up to the end of Saturday the 16th of February
Results counted from Sunday the 17th,
and published on Wednesday the 20th of February 1974.
David Essex
Rock On
At No.39, on the “The Top 50 U.K. Albums Chart”, the week of my 2nd Birthday, is David Essex with Rock On.
This blue eyed boy…
…from Canning Town, where he’d been raised since the age of two, is breaking hearts everywhere at the moment, with his first successful single having hit the chart hard last summer, and which this album is named after. He was also gaining glowing notoriety for his recent acting skills since appearing as Jim Maclaine in the film “That’ll Be The Day” (a movie which coincidentally had been partly filmed here where I live on the Isle of Wight), which had released at the cinema a couple of months previously. Before then, he’d completed a successful stage run as Jesus in the smash hit musical Godspell.
With the album titled after his big hit,..
…you’d expect tracks of a similar style. Instead, you’re first met with a pseudo-jamaican high pitched voice (well that’s what it sounded like to me anyway), but I suppose, to his many admirers, it doesn’t matter what sound came out of his mouth, they’re too busy dreaming about him and looking at the album cover and gazing into those irresistibly attractive eyes of his.
To me, this album seems such a collection of diverse range of musical styles, that it runs more like an audible show-reel to promote David’s multiple talents; but then, that was also probably down to the inspired choice of teaming up with arranger and producer Jeff Wayne; someone David had befriended while working in Godspell, and who had collaborated with around that time for extra pocket money on jingles and other film scores Jeff was developing at the time. Back then, they’d even created a band with other cast members as a side project, called (uninspiringly) The Godspells.
To give David his dues and not to dismiss him as just a pretty face (to reference one of his future hits) most of the songs here are written by David, with just a few of the tracks being covers or new interpretations of other artists he appreciates.
He undoubtedly has the looks, he had also proven before this album, that he had the talent. In a nutshell, David is everything you would want in a pop star. The key refreshing difference from many of his contemporaries, is that he doesn’t have the ego to go along with his profession. He is completely unassuming, polite, charming and relaxed in his own self.
He is absolutely the real deal; and on top of, and also because of all that, his adoring followers are also currently dreaming of taking him home to meet their parents.
The album…
…had first entered in the middle the chart last autumn on the 18th of November 1973 at No.25, and it wasn’t long, just a couple of weeks, before it soared up into the Top 10 to reach a peak position of No.7. Since then, through into the new year and up to this point, the LP had mostly been hanging around those higher placings in the chart before beginning to drop further over the past month, which is where I catch it this week.
From here,..
…this week will be its last for a short while, as it departs the Top 50 after the 23rd of February, having notched up a consecutive total of 14 weeks.
However, this album will re-enter the chart later on, and any fans of David will be pleased to know that this collection will appear, once again, along my musical road; which is where I will update its chart progress, since this exit.
Side 1
Side 2
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